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People

Heart and soul of the LSC

June 11, 2012
by Hannah Woolums

Dolan Doss, a well-known face around the Lory Student Center, has worked with mail services for 21 years. Originally from Denver, Doss has found satisfaction in doing work around the LSC. "I've been doing mail here since 1991. I'm enjoying it. My favorite part has been my friends," Dolan says.

Over Dolan’s two decades of working at CSU, many changes have happened, including major necessities like handicap accessibility. Doss has lived with cerebral palsy most all his life, but he doesn’t let it interfere with the way he’s living.

“It was awesome going here, but when I first started, it wasn’t very handicap accessible. They had to put a ramp in, and that was back in 1991. The bathrooms weren’t very accessible, either,” Doss says.

Nothing like a good boss

Through all the changes, Doss knows that he had a good reason for coming to CSU and making it his permanent home. Two of the reasons for his success here are his first bosses, who have since moved on.

“I came to CSU because I had two nice bosses. I came in for an interview and that’s how I met them. Ever since then I have lived here. I stayed because I had a very good boss. I had a very good friend of mine here and still have more friends. I stayed so long because I thought it would be a good job and I can’t find any job like this one. I grew up in Denver, and there weren’t any jobs down there,” Doss says.

Throughout Doss’ years of working in the LSC, he’s become connected and has touched the lives of people around him. Colleague Jessica Alvis, a senior who works as an Ibox specialist at the LSC, has loved getting to know Doss.

“He’s very carefree and likes to joke,” Alvis says. “Even though he’s older, he still acts like he’s 16 – he’s a kid at heart. He’s done more crazy things in his lifetime than I have. Without him delivering mail, the LSC staff would have so much more to do. He’s like our own personal postal man.”

Connecting with people

Christina Lambert, Ibox supervisor and graduate assistant, says her experience working in the LSC has been improved by Dolan’s presence.

“Dolan is a great guy; he is definitely the heart and soul of the student center,” Lambert says. “He has been here a long time and knows a lot of people, and he just makes working here great. His job is pretty integral to how the center operates; he helps connect our staff to the rest of the student center. People grow accustom to him delivering the mail, and if he’s not here, then people forget to get their own mail. He also collects the lost and found from the library so that it’s all in one central location.”